21 Days to a More Disciplined Life: Day 21 (Discipline Begets Discipline)

We made it! I can barely even remember the first couple of days of this challenge, so I’m glad I’ll be able to go back through these entries and quickly remind myself of what I need to do to start new habits.

And, on a confessional note, I haven’t been doing too well with my original habit of walking the puppy every day. It gets dark early, the weather is bad, I’ve been sick, excuse, excuse, excuse. I guess it’s a good thing I can reread this series!

Enough about that though, let’s move on to the new stuff. Yesterday’s exercise was to pick a couple of quick things from my to-do list and do them. I had a couple of little tasks around the house (primarily laundry and cleaning related) that I kept putting off. It felt nice to just do them! It’s like what Paine said yesterday; it’s nice to free up the mental space that you’re spending on these little menial tasks.

Now, for our last chapter. Paine starts this chapter by reminding us not to get overwhelmed if we still have dozens and dozens of tasks that we still want to complete or if we didn’t have the best track record with this habit. She reminds us to just keep plugging away and to look at the positive benefits that sticking with our habit have brought us. Her habit was to get up early, and her positive benefits were having time to a more meaningful quiet time every morning, finding time to exercise every day, and getting things done before her children wake up, among other benefits. Have any of you found additional benefits that sticking with your habit has brought? When I was more consistent with the puppy walking, I did notice that I felt better after doing that short walk, I spent less time as a lump on the couch in the evenings, and he was a little less spastic at night. Crud. We’ve got to start walking again!

Our final exercise is to make a list of all the improvements and progress that we’ve seen over the last 20 days. Paine reminds us not to dwell on the areas that still need major work but to instead be encouraged by the progress we’ve made.

I want to thank everyone who has followed along with the entire series, especially those who have provided encouragement and feedback. I have a couple of series’ planned for 2014 (another book series like this and one that I’m working to cobble together). I’ll keep the Facebook and Twitter notifications active so anyone who is interested in following along can do so. I’ve also got a box on the right side of the page where those who would rather receive email notifications of new postings can sign up there.

I hope everyone has enjoyed this series, and if anybody has suggestions for content they’d like to see in the new year, please let me know. Happy Thanksgiving, and stay disciplined!